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For Shimmi, volunteering with Rainbow Railroad is about more than legal support; it’s about standing beside LGBTQI+ people in crisis and helping them feel seen, heard, and supported on their journey to safety.Finding a Meaningful Volunteer PathA law student at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law in Toronto, Canada, Shimmi first connected with Rainbow Railroad through her school’s chapter of Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC). As a volunteer, Shimmi supports the processing of applications for the Government-Assisted Refugees (GAR) program, which allows Rainbow Railroad to refer LGBTQI+ refugees to the Canadian government for resettlement to Canada. “I applied to volunteer with PBSC because I wanted to engage in client intake and other hands-on work within my first year of law school, but I hadn’t realized just how meaningful the work could be until I was offered the volunteer position with Rainbow Railroad,” Shimmi explains. As a volunteer with the GAR program, she works with refugees, collecting information about their physical and mental health, legal status, housing, access to healthcare, and other critical needs. In addition, she researches the legal and social conditions in the countries where at-risk LGBTQI+ individuals live to provide context for their situations. This information helps inform detailed assessments, providing a clear picture of the unique circumstances faced by each individual, helping to frame their case for resettlement. Paige MacLean, Senior Program Officer, GAR Coordinator, depends on the support of volunteers like Shimmi: “Volunteers are critical to this work because they help us increase our capacity to support more LGBTQI+ people at risk,” Paige shares. “The completion of these assessments ensures that we assist the most vulnerable LGBTQI+ refugees through the GAR Program.” Forging Human ConnectionsThe connection that Shimmi makes with an LGBTQI+ person at risk can be incredibly meaningful, and often extends beyond simply collecting information: “I have found that I often provide a rare safe and welcoming space for LGBTQI+ people at risk to be themselves and to tell their lived experiences to someone who is on their side…I have realized that this opportunity to show people empathy, kindness, and understanding is another key way that I am able to support LGBTQIA+ people at risk, while I work on their resettlement cases.”For LGBTQI+ people living in countries where their identities are criminalized, it can be a new experience to connect directly with someone supportive of LGBTQI+ people. In her role as a volunteer, Shimmi can be one of the first individuals to hear someone openly express their identity. For Shimmi, it is important to connect on a personal level with each person she supports. She shares the following:“Every time I end an assessment interview, I take a moment to truly wish them the best and to ensure that I will do everything that I can for them from my stage in the process. I always want this to be authentic and unscripted. It’s a moment to assure them that there are people out there who are fighting for them and have their best interests at heart. I want them to feel seen, in a real way, before the interview ends. “The Emotional Weight of Frontline WorkVolunteering in a frontline role can be deeply meaningful, and also comes with challenges. Shimmi reflects on some of the most difficult aspects of volunteering, “After some interviews, I have found myself sitting in silence or feeling physically shaken. There is truly nothing like witnessing the pain and fear in people’s faces as they share what is currently happening to them.” She prioritizes self-care in order to continue this type of work, explaining, “It is crucial to maintain your own well-being so that you can remain stable and truly be there for those you are working with.” In spite of the emotional weight of this work, Shimmi is dedicated to supporting LGBTQI+ people at risk. After completing her placement through Pro Bono Students Canada, she made the decision to continue volunteering with Rainbow Railroad. She reflects on the significance of this work with a wider lens, stating, “I urge the government to recognize that LGBTQI+ rights are human rights, and that our immigration and refugee systems must be fair, accessible, and responsive to those fleeing persecution. The people that I’ve worked with are not statistics but individuals who wish for freedom, love, and safety just as we do.”Through her volunteer work with Rainbow Railroad, Shimmi is helping to ensure those wishes are met with compassion, dignity, and action. If you’re interested in donating your time and expertise in support of LGBTQI+ refugees, you can sign up to volunteer with Rainbow Railroad today.  

Rainbow Railroad condemns a series of recent directives from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that further threaten asylum and refugee protections across the United States. Last week, a leaked memo from USCIS outlined plans to review over 230,000 refugees admitted between January 2021 and February 2025, and immediately halt the processing of all green card applications for refugees, as well as call for the full suspension of asylum case processing.Although the U.S. operates one of the most stringent refugee vetting processes of any resettlement country, it has also reinstated intrusive “turn back” practices that deny asylum seekers the right to apply for protection at its border. This dual attack on the cornerstone of U.S. humanitarian law will place LGBTQI+ asylum seekers at even greater risk as the doors to safety close. Under the previous administration, Rainbow Railroad — as the only LGBTQI+-led Private Sponsor Organization (PSO) in the U.S.— helped launch and operationalize the Welcome Corps Private Sponsorship Program. Through this program, we successfully resettled  42 LGBTQI+ refugees and served as a consultative partner to ensure queer competency was built into the program and shared as a best practice to other immigration organizations. In 2024, we advanced to third-party naming, which enabled direct LGBTQI+ referrals into the United States Refugee Admission Program (USRAP), a historic milestone for LGBTQI+ refugee resettlement. The current U.S. Administration’s anti-LBGTQI+ and anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric continue to dismantle these gains systematically. The indefinite suspension of refugee pathways, such as USRAP, coupled with the recent order to reopen finalized cases and freeze refugee protections, retraumatizes LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and refugees who face persecution, bias, and violence throughout their journeys to build safety.These orders will not only endanger LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and refugees within U.S borders, but will also have regional consequences. As U.S. refugee protections collapse, LGBTQI+ asylum seekers impacted by this policy regime will face a growing risk of recurrent displacement. With lawful pathways closing, many LGBTQI+ asylum seekers residing in the U.S. will be forced to seek out irregular pathways toward Canada in search of safety. Rainbow Railroad anticipates a growing demand for requests for help coming from LGBTQI+ asylum seekers seeking safety at the U.S.-Canada border who face heightened risk of arbitrary detention, misgendering, and accelerated asylum procedures that fail to account for the realities of SOGIESC-based persecution. The U.S. no longer functions as a rights-based democracy for those seeking protection, as mechanisms of accountability have been replaced by surveillance and “counter terrorism” frameworks that disproportionately target LGBTQI+, human rights defenders, and migrant communities. Operating within this hostile context, Rainbow Railroad continues to support queer and trans asylum seekers with cash assistance and through our Community Support Teams and Community Access Fund. We are committed to assisting at least 900 LGBTQI+ refugees and asylum seekers in the U.S. by the end of the year.Rainbow Railroad calls on our community of donors to sustain our work during this increasingly difficult time. A successful 60in60 campaign will enable us to support the most at-risk and affected individuals as we work to expand pathways to safety for forcibly displaced LGBTQI+ refugees at a moment of unprecedented need.

Around the globe, queer and trans individuals are facing escalating persecution, criminalization, and forced displacement. These overlapping crises make Rainbow Railroad’s work more necessary, and more challenging, than ever. Stronger Together: Your Role in Building Safer Futures provides an in-depth look at the transformative power of solidarity for our work today. Download the full report here.This report outlines the groundbreaking work that is made possible through the support of our community. Despite the circumstances, we continue to push forward.What You’ll Find in This Report:Charlie's Journey to Safety and Self-Discovery: A newcomer's story about living authentically, building community, and dreaming again.Migrant Support Collective: : A profile of one of the first recipients of Rainbow Railroad's Community Access Fund: Based in the U.S., Migrant Support Collective supports migrants in immigration detention.Building Connections: How Cory Schisler, a San Francisco based hospitality entrepreneur, found meaning in Rainbow Railroad's mission.Thank you for your ongoing support of our work. You can download the full report here, or read it below.Stand with us in the fight for LGBTQI+ freedom. Support our work today.

The global landscape for LGBTQI+ rights is shifting sharply as authoritarian ideologies gain power, transnational anti-rights coalitions deepen, and governments increasingly weaponize gender as a site of political control. This year alone, the transgender community has seen countries such as Cuba, Germany, and Sweden advance protections for gender-diverse people; these gains stand alongside an alarming wave of coordinated regression. Nowhere is this more evident than in the United States, where state-led efforts are actively dismantling transgender rights and reshaping public policy around the belief that gender is fixed at birth.In the United States, the elimination of the “X” gender marker on identity documents and the enforcement of Executive Order 14168 represent a profound rollback of federal recognition for transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex people. This policy does more than impose a rigid male and female binary; it reframes transgender existence as a matter of national security. By casting gender diversity as a threat to public order, the U.S. government legitimizes heightened surveillance, secondary screening, and discretionary border control, targeting trans and gender-diverse travelers. For refugees fleeing gender-based persecution, this is not an abstract policy shift; being misgendered at a border crossing can trigger harassment, detention, or refoulement. For foreign nationals, including Canadians who hold “X” passports, this environment creates new barriers to safe mobility.These rollbacks dangerously intersect with Canada’s continued enforcement of the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA). Despite overwhelming evidence that trans, non-binary, and intersex people face heightened discrimination and violence when forced to claim asylum in the United States, the STCA presumes the United States to be a safe country of refuge. This presumption no longer holds. Under current U.S. policy, LGBTQI+ asylum seekers—particularly those with diverse gender identities—risk being detained, misgendered, denied adequate protection, or fast-tracked through processes that fail to account for the complexities of SOGIESC-based persecution. Canada must urgently act by exempting trans, non-binary, and intersex asylum seekers from the STCA and ensuring they can seek safety without being pushed back into a system that increasingly treats their identities as security threats rather than grounds for protection.Forcibly displaced LGBTQI+ people already face heightened scrutiny due to their vulnerability, lack of documentation, and exposure to anti-LGBTQI+ persecution. When states recast gender diversity as a security risk, they create direct pathways to violence. Inaccurate identity documents increase the likelihood of being misgendered in detention, denied entry at borders, or placed in unsafe facilities.Rainbow Railroad is calling on civil society to defend gender-diverse documentation rights and to oppose policies grounded in a rigid, birth-based definition of gender. We call on the government of Canada to continue recognizing “X” markers and protect the mobility of those whose identities fall outside imposed binaries by exempting trans, non-binary, and intersex asylum seekers from the STCA to prevent refoulement into danger.Safe mobility is not a privilege; it is a right that must be protected.

“We dream of a world where care is collective, borders are abolished, and our people are safe, housed, and celebrated.”

Bill C-12 has the potential to endanger the lives of LGBTQI+ people fleeing persecution.

Rainbow Railroad's response to the delivery of the 2025 Canadian Federal Budget.

“But even as I lived in fear, I also lived in truth. I couldn’t pretend to be someone I wasn’t. And when I saw others like me — beaten, arrested, thrown out of school, or disowned by their families — I knew I had to do something.”

In just 60 seconds, an LGBTQI+ person can be forced to flee their home.

"Rainbow Railroad didn’t just open a door for me; they walked beside me as I stepped through it."

As the world becomes increasingly hostile for queer and trans individuals, Sarah believes Rainbow Railroad’s mission is more critical than ever.

“I am filled with so much joy when I meet refugees that we have supported at events, or just hearing from them after they land, that they feel like they can breathe again, and that they feel like they will be okay now."